Southwest 2021:
Day 10 - Torrey

	Thursday, February 25, 2021: The Big Dipper was visible through the skylight before dawn. There was no way to photograph it so you'll just have to believe us.
	Dawn was starting to appear in the distance.
	Less than an hour later, we were packed and ready to go, ...
	... but first, we had to go to the only open restroom, ...
	... the one by the yurts.
	By sunrise, we were on the road.
	There's Molly's Castle and the Gilson Buttes.
	Pretty.
	We stopped at the scenic spot up ahead, ...
	... and were happy to find a bunch of overlook viewfinders.
	Each was labeled with the item we would see ...
	... through the metal pipe.
	This funny little thing is Prairie Dog Butte.
	There's Molly's Castle.
	This little one is Brigham Butte.
	Here's Factory Butte.
	There are the Henry Mountains, ...
	... and here's a better look at them.
	We had driven past this place and taken a picture of it two years earlier.
	We passed a flock of wild turkeys grazing along the road.
	In Hanksville, we had to make a brief detour a few yards down the road to the left, ...
	... to get gas at Stan's Silver Eagle in Hanksville. We had stopped here on our way back from our Cataract Canyon river trip two years earlier and it was nice to see it in sunshine instead of pouring rain.
	There's another look at Factory Butte from a different angle.
	It was great to get a better photo of one of our favorite crossing signs.
	There's Capitol Reef up ahead!
	But wait one sec: there is such a thing as a Scenic Backway? For real?
	We arrived at Capitol Reef National Park a little before 9:00 AM.
	We knew almost nothing about this park, other than it was one of Utah's Mighty Five (including Arches, Bryce, Canyonlands, and Zion National Parks).
	We stopped at the Hickman Bridge Trailhead to do a short hike.
	Here's the lovely Fremont River ...
	... following the side of the trail.
	Ooooh, stairs!
	It was a pretty view as the trail gained elevation quickly.
	After 10 minutes of hiking, we saw a sign that said that the Hickman Bridge was still .7 miles away, so we decided to enjoy what we'd seen so far and then turn back.
	So pretty.
	Across the valley from us was Capitol Dome.
	Down we go!
	As we continued toward the visitor center, we entered Fruita Historic District. Here is the Fruita school building.
	Fruita was settled by people who planted lots of orchards, which are still maintained to this day.
	We went into the visitor center to pay our entrance fee (free with our National Parks and Federal Recreation Lands Access Annual Pass) ...
	... and buy a souvenir. We paid $5 cash and the nice gentleman behind us gave us a quarter to cover the tax so the clerk wouldn't have to give us a bunch of bills and coins in change.
	Marmot Crossing! You can bet that we stopped and went back to get this sign for our collection!
	We headed out on Capitol Reef's Scenic Drive.
	Here is Grand Wash.
	Old uranium mine shafts dot these hills. Look closely and you can see two of them here in the lower right with slats closing the entry.
	Like the rest of the West and Midwest, blizzards had dumped snow the previous week and there were still some signs of it.
	Beautiful Capitol Gorge is at the end of the drive. We stopped here for a bit to take it all in.
	We returned the way we came and got to see all of the scenery from a different angle and with much better sunlight.
	As the sign says, ...
	... this is Egyptian Temple.
	Gorgeous.
	Pretty.
	Scenic.
	Cool.
	Marmot crossing again!
	We returned to the Fruita area, ...
	... and got a closer look at some of the fruit orchards. Fruit is available for self-picking in season for a fee.
	We left the park and headed down the road to Goosenecks Point.
	It was just a short walk up a hill to see it.
	There it is! Well, maybe it is. It wasn't really marked, so your guess is as good as ours.
	This little juniper bush was dropping ...
	... perfect little frost blue berries on the ground.
	Here's Chimney Rock, ...
	... and these are called the Twins.
	We left the park shortly after 11:00 AM ...
	... and headed to nearby Torrey.
	It's a lovely little town.
	We had reservations to stay at Sand Creek RV Park. The owner had called the day before to let us know that he would be out when we checked in, but to pick a spot and make ourselves at home.
	With nearly the entire park empty, ...
	... we chose site #1 because it was close to the bathrooms and laundry. When we met the owner on our return from lunch, we learned that both the bathrooms and laundry were closed for the winter, a fact not mentioned on their website.
	Running water was also not included in our full hookups reservation. We were quite disappointed with what we were sold and what we actually got but at least it was a lovely location.
	After some looking, we found an open restaurant in town (Slacker's Pizza and Deli), so Tom went in and ordered.
	Oh my goodness, it was delicious.
	Anytime we have the option to have both French fries and onion rings, we take it.
	At 1:00 PM, we had an online meeting that we had to attend, so we were grateful that the RV park did have the wifi it advertised. Our daughter had just moved into a group home and this was her one month followup meeting.
	It was a very positive meeting and we were both very happy and emotional afterward, because we could tell that we had made the right choice for our girl.
	We had another online meeting at 3:00 PM, this time with our close friends. However, even though we took screen shots, we didn't save any of them and they are lost forever. But it happened and it was fun.
	We spent the rest of the day relaxing, working on photos, and enjoying the scenery.
	We brought diced ham from home, so it was easy to make a couple of cups of macaroni and cheese with ham for dinner.
	The sun is going, going, ...
	... gone. Day 11 >